Lilou finally telling the truth made the tension between them darker. The weight of her lie could not be diluted by its revelation. That would take more time, and a rebuilding of whatever trust had been there to begin with.

They headed out of town, all of them silent. Sammi was simmering with the remnants of the power, exhausted, as if she’d just run a marathon. She was also scared of what was happening to her. She knew it was a good thing, something she could use to help people if she used it in the right way. But she didn’t want it.

Many little girls grew up dreaming of becoming fairies, but she knew that fairies weren’t always good.

They left the strange ruins of Longford, and all the way Sammi was looking for more remains that showed how the town’s residents had been murdered. She felt sick to the soul at the events of several decades before, and also at Lilou’s lie. She didn’t believe the nymph had brought them into danger—after so long, nothing could remain alive under the water and buried in mud—but she had lied to them, probably because she’d known that Angela would have said no.

As they passed the outermost remains, Lilou stopped and shielded her eyes to look up at the hillside. “There. See those rocks? The caves are there.”

Sammi looked, and she saw a man hauling himself over a pile of boulders, dropping to the ground, rolling, and then standing and running downhill. When he caught sight of Sammi, Angela and Lilou he changed direction until he was aiming right at them.

“One of the Kin?” Angela asked, and there was a trace of fear in her voice.

“No,” Sammi said, although she thought, There is something about him... the way he runs... the way he looks.

“Run,” the man shouted as he drew closer. He waved at them, eyes wide, not slowing down. “Run!”

14

14

And there I was almost trusting Lilou for a moment, Angela thought. It was a sad betrayal, but one that hadn’t surprised her. She’d always believed that the nymph was out for herself, and this only went to prove it.

And now her lie had put them all in peril.

Angela’s first thought was for Sammi. Most of what she worried about lately was to do with her niece, apart from those long lonely moments she spent thinking of Vince, and now more than ever she wanted to do everything she could to look after her dead sister’s girl.

Even though Sammi was changing, she still needed protecting.

“Who’s that?” she asked as the man ran towards them, waving and shouting.

“No idea,” Lilou said, “but he’s been in the caves.”